I've had an unhealthy obsession with Foggy Panda ever since Rowan 37 came out back in '05. At first I thought it looked like a weird cow, then I saw it was really a panda devouring a small child.



Why didn't I do it before, if I love it so much? I was held back by my cheapness. The cheapest Rowan 37 I could get was about $40 after postage. Then I got one in England for 10 pounds (with a good exchange rate too). Then I wasn't willing to pony up the dough for the yarn. Man, colour work is expensive.

Eventually I just thought "hell with it", and here we are now:



I thought I'd start with the back so I could guesstimate if I had enough yarn. I'm using Grignasco Tango, which has more yardage than Rowan Wool Cotton, so I bought one less ball of the purple. It should be okay, fingers crossed.

I started counting all the ends I have to weave in, but got bored at 30. So there are 30+ ends left. I like weaving in ends, but don't really feel like it right now. Maybe on the train or something.

I've finished the first sleeve on the Tangled Yoke Cardi, and I'm this far up the body.



It makes pretty good train knitting. I put some text instructions into my ipod because I didn't want my magazine to get battered in my bag. When I get to the yoke bit, it'll be too heavy to carry around and I think I'll leave it at home.

Knittyboard sock swap

My partner was Gill/Floss from Wales, and she did me this fabulous pair of Monkeys! It's really shiny in person, and the yarn feels very smooth and cool. Good thing too, with summer coming up. Sorry for the weird angles in the photo. I don't do yoga anymore.



I'm really impressed with the lack of pooling. I think I'll have to try a pair of Monkeys myself.



Haha, I really like that tape measure. That'll get a lot of use. I like to keep a tape measure in my handbag, but I often forget to take them out and put them in the bag I'm actually using that day.

There was also a block of Green and Blacks, but it didn't manage to survive until today ;)



Eva from Posh Yarns :) I know exactly what to do with this. It wants to be that lacy little Teardrop scarf from knitscene. This has an entirely different thickness, but I'll work it out.

Thank you Floss for such a luxurious parcel!

What happened?

I heard a loud BANG, and when I went into the lounge, William said,

"I stepped on it."

It's still half full, and the hole is too small for anything to come out. :(
I'm half laughing, half crying. I really want those peas.

I'm starting to think I'm a bit spoilt. Where to begin?

I went to Chris' place on Tuesday because he was sick, and walked away with:


my belated birthday present. You all know what an iPod looks like, so there it is in the sock I whipped up last night. It's an 80 gig classic, and soooo cool. The screen seems much bigger than it really is, especially if you hold it close to your face.

My Zen goes to William, IF someone can fix it for me. I dropped it just before I went to England. It makes a ChChChChk noise when you turn it on, and then nothing happens. I had to go throughout the whole England trip listening to that Umbrella song on the radio FIVE OR SIX TIMES A DAY FOR A MONTH because of breaking my Zen :'(



digital scales! I've been lusting over something like this for ages. It has auto-tare :) I tried to spin up some lace weight on my 1.6 oz spindle, but only managed to get a 2 ply fingering. I spun for hours and hours and look, it's only 9 grams worth! That's merino roving from EGMTK in Belle's Story. There's also some white Angelina chucked in as an experiment. It is very princessy. (What would YOU do with pink sparkle yarn? Say, about 400 yards/metres fingering weight?)



yarn! 8 ply Rustic from Bendigo Woolen Mills in Natural Fleck. This was also at Chris' house. I got it delivered there so I wouldn't start knitting with it straight away. Ha. It's becoming the first sleeve for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. It's not baby soft, and feels a bit "woolly". I'm not sensitive to woolly knits, so it'll suit me just fine. I like how the huge balls (*snicker*) mean less joining. Plus it was cheap.

Okay, that's it for Chris' house. This is what turned up at my place this week:



Optim from EGMTK in er... I've forgotten the name actually. Something about fruits, I think. If you can't tell, I like this store a lot. The service is fast, and really lovely.



my lace spindle! It's 30 grams-ish, and I can spin to TWICE the wpi than on my old one. It came from the Spindlemaker on etsy, and it is really very beautiful.

Whine

It's time to accept that the custom-dyed sock yarn I ordered is never coming. It was supposedly sent a month ago, and according to the post office it should have taken a day (max two) to arrive. I've been really cool about it up 'til now, but now I'm so pissed off.

I accept that things go missing in the post. The part that gets me is the lack of reply from the seller. I've asked them (nicely) for confirmation that the parcel was really sent and that the notice I received wasn't an error (I received the email on Sunday night, which was a bit weird, considering the PO is closed on weekends). No reply.

I emailed them AGAIN, giving alternative addresses to reply to, in case their replies were being eaten by spam filter. No reply.

I asked them to file a missing parcel complaint for me. I'd do it myself, but the sender has to do it. No reply.

I left a comment on their blog asking them (again, nicely) to get in touch with me. No reply.

There are no real-life contact details on their yarn website. I did find a link to the web design business they have, but no details there either. I don't think there's anything else I can do, so it looks like it's time to give up :/

I've ordered from them once before, when I needed the yarn for a deadline. At that time, I sent them an email asking if I could get the yarn before the date. I also asked if it was possible to make one of the colours slightly darker. She said the yarn would definitely be ready by the time I needed it, but ignored my question about the colours. The yarn arrived a week later than expected. She was nice about it though, and refunded me the postage cost.

Speaking of postage costs. Why the fuck does she charge $6.10 for regular shipping when she lives about FIFTEEEN minutes away from me? That's $5.10 for a prepaid post satchel, and $1 for what? Her time? When I order things from Victorian sellers, they charge the actual postage cost and it's $3.85 (I think) for up to 250g. Using the prepaid satchels is just dumb. (I thought it was uneconomical before I was pissed off at her, too)

Luckily, I didn't spend too much this time. It was only about $30+, I think. I'm VERY annoyed at this unreliable person. The lady at the post office said that if there were any problems, the parcel would have been returned to the sender. All I want is some acknowledgment. (And my yarn.)

I'm glad there are so many other places to shop.
(Btw, I just did my tax return online, and I'm getting everything back :D Have you done yours?)

My Fall IK finally arrived, and I feel like I was the very last person in the world to get it.

It's completely worth the wait. All ill will has now dissipated.

I love everything. I love how for some reason, everything is red. I love how it hasn't been damaged this time.

I love the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, Tilted Duster, Minimalist Cardigan (which looks so much better in the mag than in the preview), the Mirepoix bodice (no matter what Chris says about disliking "vertical lines"), and so much more.

I think I'll take a break from spinning and start knitting again, mainly because my left arm is too sore to support my spindle today. Why? Because I just got my HPV vaccination.

GO GET YOURS, if you haven't. It is FREE right now, and very important. (I'd actually forgotten about it for a while, but some med students reminded me)

Kneel, you

How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!

Congratulations! If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be. You can smell a grammatical inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is revered by the underlings, though some may blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just jealous. Go out there and change the world.
Take this quiz!








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I'm way prouder of this than I should be...